Seder Haggadah shel Pesah (Order of the Passover Haggadah), attributed to Aaron Wolf ben Benjamin Zeev Schreiber Herlingen of Gewitsch, in Hebrew, illuminated manuscript on vellum

An illuminated and decorated Haggadah, firmly attributed to the most sought-after Jewish artist of the eighteenth-century manuscript revival, Aaron Wolf ben Benjamin Zeev Schreiber Herlingen of Gewitsch

text

The Jewish community, unlike its Christian neighbours, never allowed the printing press to entirely dominate and subsume the production of decorated and illuminated manuscripts. Within the period from the invention of commercial printing to the present day, the finest hour of Hebrew manuscript production was that of the eighteenth-century. In the late seventeenth century certain Jews were increasingly used by the princes and rulers of the Germanic parts of Europe as influential advisors on economic and diplomatic affairs, and often also as bankers, leading to the emergence of a new group of men known as Court Jews (or Hofjuden). From the mid-seventeenth to the late eighteenth century almost every king or ruling noble in Central Europe employed at least one such official. The holding of such an office freed these men and their families from the restrictions normally imposed upon Jews, and often brought them wealth and power and a place within the most rarefied cultural spheres of Europe.

Since ancient times, Jews have followed Moses' commandment in Exodus 13, to "Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery ... [and] On that day tell your son, 'I do this because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt'". The Haggadah (meaning 'telling') was written to assist in the fulfilment of that commandment. They were the most lavishly illuminated Jewish manuscripts of the Middle Ages, and among the earliest Hebrew books to be printed and widely disseminated, with the hugely popular editions of Mantua in 1560, Venice in 1609 and Amsterdam in 1695. It was in response to these commonly available and mass-printed Haggadot that the Court Jews of the eighteenth century re-embraced illuminated manuscripts as objects of rarity, beauty and value, commissioning numerous artists to produce illuminated and decorated copies of the texts for private contemplation or for presentation as sumptuous gifts.

In a report on the present manuscript (now enclosed in the book), Dr E. Schrijver of the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana states "I am 100% certain that this is an unsigned work by no less than Aaron Schreiber Herlingen of Gewitsch". Herlingen was the most sought-after of the new illuminators, as well as a significant court artist for the Christian community, executing a number of surviving manuscripts for them including a Psalter for the Austrian archduke. His earliest work dates to c. 1719 (see S. Shabar, 'Seder Birkat ha-Mazon-Vienna, 1719/20' in Zekher Devar le-'Avdekha, ed. S. Glick, 2007), and his career flourished throughout much of the eighteenth century (see E.M. Namenyi, 'The illumination of Jewish Manuscripts after the Invention of Printing' in Jewish Art: An Illustrated History, ed. C. Roth, 1971). In 1728 he produced a richly decorated Circumcision Register (now Jewish Museum, Prague), and in the same year made two Haggadot for the daughters of influential families, and at least another six in the period up to 1751 (for further examples of his work see H. Peled-Carmeli, Illustrated Haggadot of the Eighteenth Century, 1983, pls. 39, 42, 57, 67, 69, 93, 105, 109, 116). In the census of Jews at Pressburg in 1735 he appears with the grand title Aron Schreiber Moravus Gebitsensis Officialis in Bibliotheca Caesarea Viennensi ('Aaron Schreiber Moravus of Gewitsch, Official in the Library of the Emperor in Vienna'), and his work survives today in approximately fifty manuscripts.

illumination

The present manuscript is an excellent example of Herlingen's work in both script and decoration. Its script is of the very highest grade, and his trademark interval signs and line justification techniques are present. Moreover, there are also artistic techniques in the miniatures employed by him, but not used by his contemporaries, such as the use of small lines to hint, in an impressionistic manner, at shapes in the background of the compositions. The palette is vivid and bold, and the facial features of the figures are expressive.

When seen in the context of his other work, it is clear that this manuscript is an outstanding example of his labour. It is a substantial composition for Herlingen, spread across 35 folios, more than twice the length of that sold in our New York rooms in 2007 (which had only 12 leaves) or the two other Herlingen Haggadot in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem (exhibited 1983, and so in Peled-Carmeli, Illustrated Haggadot, items 2 and 3: 181/9, 1488-6-1945 & 181/52, L.80.181, of only 15 and 12 leaves respectively). It is a lavish and sizeable example of the artist's work, and must have been commissioned by an extremely wealthy Court Jew or a member of his immediate family. The contemporary Viennese binding suggests that the intended owner lived close to the artist's centre of activity in the court at Vienna, and we might well speculate that the book was commissioned by a member of the descendents of the influential Samuel Oppenheimer (d. 1703), who held office under Emperor Leopold I of Austria, or his business partner Samson Wertheimer (d. 1724), or perhaps a wealthy new-comer to Vienna in the eighteenth century, such as the favourite of the Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa, Baron Diego Pereira D'Aguilar (d. 1759).

The subjects of the miniatures are as follows:

1. Folio 1v, full title-page with elaborate arched architectural feature with soft blue marble pillars and a stone arch surmounted by flaming urns, Moses in orange and yellow robes holding a Torah scroll on the right, Aaron in pink robes with a censer on the left, enclosing 14 lines of text, all within a liquid gold border frame surrounded by a detailed border of naturalistic flowers and foliage.

2. Folio 6v, large liquid-gold framed miniature (85mm. by 50mm.) enclosing the sages at Bnei Brak (eight seated at a rectangular table and another standing at another table), with two servants who fetch and carry food and drink (very slight smudge to one servant in foreground), all within an interior scene with a chandelier with candles still burning as the morning sun streams in though the large windows and open door.

3. Folio 7v, large liquid-gold framed miniature (85mm. by 55mm.) enclosing the four sons standing on a grassy landscape (the intelligent one with a white beard and larger than the rest in fine robes and a headdress; the wicked one also with a young man's beard, and wearing a helmet and armour and carrying a spear, the simple one clean-shaven and dressed as a peasant, shoeless and clasping a staff, and the child in red robes extending his arms to the others), a number of tiny animals picked out in the landscape with delicate penwork.

4. Folio 8v, large liquid-gold framed miniature (85mm. by 59mm.) enclosing Abraham destroying the idols (here represented as white marble Graeco-Roman sculptures) with a hammer, on a grassy landscape, all before large buildings and an aqueduct.

5. Folio 9r, large liquid-gold framed miniature (83mm. by 57mm.) enclosing Moses striking the Egyptian with a club, set in a hilly grassy landscape with workers mixing mortar and chiselling stones, in the background a construction scene with wooden scaffolding atop a great wall with turrets, kilns baking lime, and storehouses containing stone. Some small damage to the faces of Moses and the Egyptian.

6. Folio 10r, large liquid-gold framed miniature (85mm. by 53mm.) enclosing Moses leading the Israelites from Ramses to Succoth, with 600,000 men on foot (Exodus 12: 37). All approaching a small wooden bridge with large walled town in background.

7. Folio 11v, large liquid-gold framed miniature (87mm. by 54mm.), enclosing the Pharoah in his palace seated at a table with servants carrying platters of food, within a sumptuous interior with a stone arch and balcony.

8. Folio 12v-12r, ten smaller miniatures (each approximately 40mm. by 40mm.) depicting the plagues: 1, the rivers turning to blood (Exodus 7:14-25); 2, the plague of frogs and other amphibians, here green frogs hopping around the feet of the pharoah, represented as a crowned king with sceptre (Exodus 7:26-8:11); 3, plague of lice with three figures here covered in lice and one combing to try to rid himself of them (Exodus 8:12-15); 4, plague of beasts, here with a number of small animals chasing two people into a house (Exodus 8:16-28); 5, pestilence of livestock, with two men trying to help beasts dieing in a field (Exodus 9:1-7); 6, plague of unhealable boils, with a woman here showing her ailments to a doctor (Exodus 9:8-12); 7, plague of hail mixed with fire (Exodus 9:13-35); 8, plague of locusts (Exodus 10:1-20); 9, unnatural darkness (Exodus 10:21-29); 10, death of the first-born of all Egyptian families, with a man with a candle kneeling before three dead children, and another with a candle standing next to a sick child in bed (Exodus 11:1-12:36). Some small water damage in spots to a few of the miniatures on the verso, with offset of a small area of text in the second miniature, and some paint flaking from woman's face in sixth.

9. Folio 14v, large liquid-gold framed miniature (85mm. by 54mm.) enclosing the Pharoah (here wearing a gold crown) and the Egyptians all on horseback, drowning in the Red Sea as Moses and the Jews stand on dry ground to the left of the miniature.

10. Folio 14r, large liquid-gold framed miniature (85mm. by 57mm.) enclosing the Jews camped in tents around Mount Sinai, as Moses ascends towards God at the top of the mountain, who is surrounded by flames and holds up two tablets.

11. Folio 15r, large liquid-gold framed miniature (85mm. by 55mm.) enclosing the sacrifice of the Passover lamb and the meal, with six figures standing around a table on which there is a platter holding the Passover lamb. A river with a boat and a building in the background.

Folio 24r, large liquid-gold framed miniature (85mm. by 55mm.) enclosing David kneeling with his harp before him, praying in his palace, here composed of an arched interior supported by pink columns.

Folio 31r-35r, a series of twenty-three smaller miniatures all within liquid-gold frames (the first 62mm. by 55mm., and the rest approximately 40mm. by 40mm.) illustrating songs and hymns. The first thirteen images illustrate the song Echod Me Yode'ah (Who Knows One): 1, the rebuilt Temple of Jerusalem (symbolizing God), pen and ink drawing in great detail heightened with paint; 2, Moses with the two tablets of the Law; 3, the Three Patriarchs; 4, the Four Mothers (Sarah, Rebecca, Leah and Rachael); 5, a Torah scroll (for the five books of Moses) being read by Moses dressed as an eighteenth-century Rabbi; 6, a man sitting at a table next to his wife reading from a book (for the Six orders of the Mishnah); 7, prayers of the Sabbath for the seven days of the week; 8, a baby on a table between its parents as the Rabbi prepares for circumcision on the eighth day; 9, a seated pregnant woman receiving tea for the nine months of the pregnancy; 10, Moses carrying the Ten Commandments; 11, the eleven stars of Joseph's dream; 12, men holding shields (symbolizing the twelve tribes); 13, two men kneeling before an altar in the wilderness reciting the thirteen attributes of God. The next ten images illustrate the song Chad Gadya (An Only Kid) 14,  two men before a building with a kid-goat (opening the song); 15, the cat eating the kid-goat; 16, the dog coming to bite the cat; 17, the stick coming to beat the dog (here with an arm holding the stick emerging from a cloud); 18, the fire burning the stick; 19, the water quenching the fire (again ladled by an arm emerging from a cloud); 20, the ox drinking the water; 21, the butcher killing the ox; 22, the angel of death killing the butcher; 23, the Holy One (here as a shaft of light from the sky) killing the angel of death.